Uganda's Besigye barred from flight

2011-05-11 09:00

Kampala - Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was barred in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Wednesday from boarding a flight back to Uganda, a party official said.

It was not immediately clear who ordered Besigye to be stopped from travelling on the Kenya Airways flight and why the action was taken. No comment was available from the airline or government officials.

Besigye flew to Nairobi two weeks ago after sustaining wounds when Ugandan police dragged him from a vehicle and drenched him in pepper spray to prevent him from taking part in a protest over rising food and fuel prices.

"They have imposed exile on Kizza Besigye. The flight has left without him. Both he and his wife are still in Nairobi," said Anne Mugisha, deputy foreign secretary of Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is due to be sworn in for a fourth term on Thursday after winning an election in February in which Besigye was his closest opponent.

Comments

umlaut - 2011-05-11 10:08

Here we go again-another corrupt state. Democracy seems to be used as a weapon by clandestine dictators as to get into power and then they proceed with their dictatorships. Any opposition trying to muzzle in on the big pay cheque zone is undemocratically eliminated. The west must stop aid to these countries.

MUCHI CHINGWE - 2011-05-11 12:05

Soon after taking power in 1986. Museveni said: "The problem of Africa in general and Uganda in particular is not the people but leaders who want to overstay in power." More than two decades later, this is the one problem Museveni seems unwilling to solve, he has become the problem himself

MUCHI CHINGWE - 2011-05-11 12:06

Soon after taking power in 1986. Museveni said: "The problem of Africa in general and Uganda in particular is not the people but leaders who want to overstay in power." More than two decades later, this is the one problem Museveni seems unwilling to solve, he has become the problem himself